Religion as a weapon: Time to disarm

By, Adam K. FettermanAfter the burning of a Koran in Florida, violent protests erupted in Afghanistan, killing at least 12 people, and it continues. As humans, we look for causes for such violence. As P.Z. Myers indicates, there is no shade of gray when it comes to the taking of another human life. What is it that makes people feel that it is acceptable to take someone’s life? Even when resulting from self-defense, it is a rare occasion that murder is the appropriate response. Regardless, there is no self-defense required in response to burning a book. Therefore, we look elsewhere for the cause or justification. One thing that is getting difficult to ignore, particularly in the current example, is religion. Many people, myself included, have had a hard time blaming religion for violence, because we want to be tolerant and accepting. There must be underlying factors beyond religion that drive these behaviors, right? There almost certainly are, but this recent eruption of violence over a book indicates that religion is playing a larger role than we typically credit. It appears that religion is a weapon.

Violent ideological groups tend to foster a number of justification techniques to substantiate acts of violence (Angie et al., 2011). For example, they foster feelings of moral superiority and righteousness, which makes them feel justified (Mumferd et al., 2008). As Angie and colleagues (2011) cite, this moral superiority is compounded by feelings of victimization and injustice. There is a clear connection between these findings and what we see in response to the Koran burning. Further findings implicate religion in these acts, such as the increasing of aggression when violent acts are sanctioned by a god (Bushman et al., 2007).

It can be hard to blame a whole religion for the acts of a few. To do so may even seem xenophobic. However, it continues to grow difficult to give religion a free pass, as Jerry Coyne points out quite eloquently. We see that religion gives individuals the justification needed to act in a violent matter. Even if the religion is not the root cause, it appears to be a powerful weapon. If so, it is time to put down the weapons and work things out like rational humans.

One response to “Religion as a weapon: Time to disarm”

“However, it continues to grow difficult to give religion a free pass, as Jerry Coyne points out quite eloquently. We see that religion gives individuals the justification needed to act in a violent matter.”

I have trouble blaming religion in generality considering the social nature of identity. The problem is that groups with differences will occasionally conflict. From an evolutionary perspective, morality probably only applied within the group. History has shown that “different others” are often treated as inferior or subhuman. If humans derive their self-esteem from culture (Terror Management Theory) then it benefits a culture and its participants to denigrate other cultures. Difference alone breeds conflict.

I would agree that a cultural institution could sanction violence and denigration against others but any cultural institution can be weaponized (e.g. white schools prior to segregation preached the anthropologic inferiority of the negroid race). Even science and religion threaten one another whether they intend to or not.

It would be more productive to look for the specific causes of violence within a religion than blame religion in generality. Nevertheless, an interesting topic.